Button in pink for Silverstone F1 weekend

Jenson Button will have a different look for what will be an emotional F1 weekend at the British Grand Prix.

Jenson Button has confirmed that he will sport a special pink helmet design this weekend as he marks the first British Grand Prix without his late father.

The Silverstone weekend is expected to be an especially emotional one for the Briton, but he is using it to pay his respects to the man who introduced him to motorsport, and supported him all the way to the top flight, the 2009 world title and beyond.

"This race is going to be a special one for me because it was always such an important race for my dad," Button noted, "I'll be wearing a special pink helmet for the race weekend, and I'm hoping people will enter into the spirit of supporting the #pinkforpapa effort to wear something pink on Sunday to honour his memory. He won't be there this year, but he'll always be with us in spirit - I hope he brings me some extra luck on Sunday."

Remarkably, Button can't count the British Grand Prix amongst his 15 F1 wins and, while he would love to put that statistic right this weekend, he will equally settle for a result that confirms McLaren's recent upturn in performance.

"The fast corners of the grand prix circuit aren't necessarily going to suit our package, but we're bringing improvements to the car all the time, and we're now seeing some really positive correlation between the tunnel and the track, which is encouraging for our ongoing development programme," he commented.

McLaren, meanwhile, does have an impressive record at the British Grand Prix, having won the race 14 times, and twelve times at Silverstone. It has not triumphed there since 2008, however, but Button still has reason to expect a unique atmosphere this weekend.

"The Santander British Grand Prix is one of F1's most important races because so much of our sport has been grown and developed using British technology, passion and determination," he noted, "For any driver, your home grand prix is massively important but, like Monza and Monaco, Silverstone is special for everyone."